Australian Open 2021: Crown Hotel probably quarantine center - training should be possible
Further deliberations are being held in Melbourne, and a decision on the start of the Australian Open is expected soon. A hotel for the quarantine period has already been decided.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit:
Dec 01, 2020, 07:51 am
When does the Australian Open start in 2021? It's the big question in the tennis business right now - for fans and players. Because they would soon have to book their flights too. While international flights will be allowed to land in Melbourne for the first time since July from December 7th, an arrival time for the mass of tennis players is still being discussed.
The Australian state of Victoria has been without a new COVID-19 infection for a good month now, and the local government does not want to jeopardize this achievement. Negotiations with Tennis Australia (TA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for a safe implementation of the Australian Open - and the time before - are ongoing. January 18, 2021, originally planned as the start date of the main field games, seems as good as off the table, a postponement of one or more two to three weeks is more likely.
One of the two or three hotels in which the arriving players are supposed to spend the quarantine period now seems clear: the Crown Promenade, possibly also the Crown Towers in Southbank, only about ten minutes by car from the Australian Open facility. Several Australian media reports on this. The players and their followers should be able to travel directly between the hotel and the facility in order to train during the quarantine period.
Australian Open: No private accommodation
In contrast to the US Open, where players could also rent private accommodation (Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams did this), hotel quarantine will probably be mandatory, as it is said. This is what the DHHS called for in the negotiations with Tennis Australia and the Victorian government. (Private accommodation was also prohibited at the French Open.)
The question about the quarantine time and training options is probably the most crucial one that is currently at stake. "You can't go through a hard two-week lockdown and get ready for the Australian Open," said Australian tennis pro John Millman recently. "I think none of the international players would go along with that. After all, the body pays the bills. And then you would be exposed to a high risk of injury. You can't go from zero to one hundred, that would be too big a risk."